OpNet's federal customers include NASA, the Internal Revenue Service and the Energy Department's Sandia National Laboratories.

Don Renner, director of federal solutions at OpNet, said the Bethesda, Md.-based company has established itself in the defense community, with civilian agencies and with state government organizations. He said the GSA contract "simplifies the acquisition process and provides favorable pricing to our government clients."

A two-year campaign that prompted the Department of Homeland Security to issue its first-ever emergency directive to agencies to shore up cyber defenses appears in part to have been an attempt to spy on U.S. government internet traffic.